Woods Tool

[Grant Lamontagne]

Recently a private discussion was started on another forum that had a bunch of outdoors guys discussing what they like/don't like in a woods tool, and what they would like to see in an "Ultimate" multitool designed for the serious camper, hiker, hunter etc.

Since alot of those guys are here as well, and we have a number of woods bums other than those guys, I was wondering if there were any other ideas.

My suggestion was this:

You know, I have rarely, if ever really needed the pliers in the woods. I have recently gotten the Leatherman Hybrid model and I thought that it might be a fantastic woods type tool. I imagine the hunting version, the Vista, might be a little better. During tests last night while walking the dog, I managed to snip off some branches that were just over half an inch thick, something that I thought was pretty impressive. Anything larger than that and you have the saw handy as well, and like the 111mm or 120mm SAKs, it's pretty big saw.

I also like the yellow color, which as Spudley is always pointing out, is better for the woods. As far as the tools inside the handles go I'd like to see a bit holder similar to the one on the Surge, which allows for T-shanked bits (available in any hardware store) plus it allows the awesome diamond file to be removed and used to touch up the cutting edges on the pruners and the knife blade.

The Charge series has a 154cm blade, but most of the others are 440 or 420, which isn't bad. I'd like to see a large blade, similar to the Surge or Wenger SwissGrip on a dedicated woods tool, regardless of what it's made of. I don;t see the blade being THAT important because it would probably be paired with a decent fixed blade when used by any serious woods bum.

The tool would also need can and bottle openers of course, but I'd also like to see a Victorinox style "useless" hook for hanging pots over a fire or pulling tent pegs. A locking awl would also be nice, similar to the Surge's, but a little thinner. I think the Surge's awl is great, but a little broad for most work.

Thinking back to the sheath, it might be nice to have a small compass/map pocket added on to it as well, and perhaps a small metal ring stitched on to the side for clipping on extras like matchsafes, flashlights, whistles or capsules.

At least, that's the kind of woods tool I'd love to see...

Anyone else have any thoughts?

Def

[Dunc]

I think pliers would be usefull in the woods if you were going to do any kind of cooking , as they can be used for removing hot pans and cans fron over the fire , and for mending equipment .

Dunc

[J-sews]

I've got a Vista, but didn't receive it in time to take hunting with me this year. It's a good start to the perfect woods tool for me, but falls well short. The pruners are great, the handles comfortable, and the saw blade is capable. Those are the good things. On the not-so-good side, the Vista needs a bigger knife blade, and get rid of that silly choke tube wrench tool. (nobody is ever going to use that thing!) As Peter Lezard pointed out in his review, the Vista is equipped with a fine awl, but it's not as useful because it doesn't lock. On the ultimate woods tool, all the blades would lock.

Oh, and I really like that removable diamond file idea Def! That would be handy.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Dunc- you know alot of these guys from SOSAK and so you should know that many of them are serious about going without equipment!

Seriously, I think one of the stipulations was that they didn't want to take into consideration the repair of equipment and such.  If there are machines that may need repairing then I would opt for the pliers as well.  With nothing mechanical to (potentially) have to fix I am pretty certain I'd find more use for the pruners.  For small stuff like a lantern or camp stove and so on, I might still prefer the pruners, but then I'd want a set of SwissChamp style pliers to fold out of the handle, giving me the best of both worlds.

Def

[J-sews]

My "woods multitool" experience.......
In over five years of taking my lucky Super Tool with me out deer hunting, I've only used four different implements:

the saw blade........about a hundred times to cut branches and saplings to clear shooting lanes.
the big flat head screwdriver.......to adjust the settings on my scope. (A long story.)
the small screwdriver and the pliers........to remove a stuck cartridge from a buddy's gun. (An even longer story.)

But despite not using the tool very often, it has been indespensible on those few occasions when I needed it.